Unlike John the Baptist, who was the only
forerunner for Christ's first coming, I believe there will be thousands upon
thousands working for His Second Coming.
An unmistakable awareness that Jesus is coming soon will sweep
Christianity. Job opportunities in the
kingdom of God will be plentiful. The recruitment has begun and will continue
until the moment of Jesus' return. These forerunners will be found in the house
church movement, filling the openings for house church elder. If you have made Jesus the Lord of your
life, find a house church and be discipled until you are prepared and there is
an opening available for you to fill.
If you are called to start a house church, be
careful how you go about it. It must be
done properly to have the Lord's blessing.
Be ready to be attacked from within the church and without. The battle is the same as in the early
church and the battle is the Lord's. He
will lead you as to how to respond to all the challenges that come your way. If
you can't commit to an adequate prayer life, don’t begin, for you are not
ready. Intercession is a vital activity in equipping you for the journey
ahead. The Lord will allow you to be tested. The best generals are the ones who have been
in battle. A successful house church is
the last thing the devil wants. He
still retains a vivid memory of the power and accomplishments of the early
church. Neither the flames, the
gallows, nor the sword could deter the early Christians from living out the
gospel.
Before Jesus ministry started John
the Baptist was given the wonderful task to prepare the way for the Lord. God is the same yesterday, today and forever,
and there were good reasons for Him to have had a forerunner for His first
coming. To prepare the way for His
second coming is perhaps more valid.
This time He is coming for His bride, who will be prepared for the
Jesus.
Many of the people of Israel will he bring back
to the Lord their God. And he will go
on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of
the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous
to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord (Luke 1:16&17
emphasis added).
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready (Revelation 19:7 emphasis added).
When a king goes anywhere there is
preparation before his arrival. Unlike
an earthly king, whose preparation is for his own glory and safety, the Second Coming of Christ entails the
preparation of His bride for Him.
The great work the apostles did in perfecting the saints was in part
because they were expecting the return of Jesus during their lifetime and they
had the structure of the church that Jesus designed already in place. Nineteen centuries, of waiting for His
return, has taken its toll on the church.
The Godhead family paid a great price at Calvary for Christ to become the Bridegroom. Father God will not allow His Son to return for a Bride who is not ready, excited and not expecting the Groom. The Father giving His Son to the world at Calvary as the Savior was a pure expression of love. A harlot will not do as a bride for His Son. The church will be presented to Christ without spot or wrinkle. My second daughter, Leslie, recently got married, and the experience of preparing a wedding is vivid in my mind. One thing uppermost on her mind, as with all brides, was that on the wedding day she would be as beautiful as possible for her groom. We need to become an excited Bride again, preparing for His soon return. God will be as proud of the Bride as this angel was anxious to show her to John the apostle as seen in this Scripture:
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls
full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a
mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God
(Revelation 21:9-10 emphasis added).
Two parables of preparation come to mind. First, the ten virgins, where only five were prepared and the other five could not enter the door, which led to eternal life. The other is the parable of the wedding banquet.
Then he said to his servants, the wedding banquet
is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the
banquet anyone you find. So the
servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find
both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests,
he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. “Friend,” he asked, “how did you get in here
without wedding clothes?” The man was speechless. Then the king told the
attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew
22:8-14).
The only ones who are chosen are the ones in proper wedding clothes. I believe the wedding in the parable tells of the preparation of the Bride for Christ's return. It will be the forerunners, with the spirit of John the Baptist, who will call the church to prepare herself as a bride. Let’s take a look and see what will make up the character of the forerunner.
To see if we have been called to be a forerunner,
we must briefly look at the character of John the Baptist.
They came to John and said to him, Rabbi, that
man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified
about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him. To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him
from heaven. You yourselves can testify
that I said, I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The
friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy
when he hears the bridegroom's voice.
That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:29-30).
John knew the Bridegroom as a friend, heard His
voice and shared His message. He then said, "That joy is mine.” John the Baptist first reacted to the
presence of Jesus while he was still in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth. As Mary entered the house and greeted
Elizabeth, John leaped and was filled with the Holy Spirit by the mere presence
of Jesus. Jesus and John were both
unborn, yet there was communication by the Spirit.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and I
believe the communication between the two increased during that time. John sensed the very presence of the Lord in
his spirit. John sensed the presence of
the Lord again before he saw Him at His baptism. You and I experience the same
thing when the Spirit speaks to us, as He gives us a deeper spiritual
understanding, a vision, direction in our lives or an awesome feeling of His
presence. A forerunner, then,
must and will clearly hear the voice of the Spirit, and sense that His call has
been on his life all along.
The Lord thought it necessary that John be
isolated while growing up, to avoid being influenced or distracted by the
condition of the world. I believe Jesus
made many trips to the wilderness to disciple John and expose the spiritual
condition of Israel and the religious leaders. I believe Jesus made it clear
to John that he had to shift the atonement process from the killing of animals
to personal repentance and baptism.
John's message and impact on Israel had to be
pure and not prejudiced by social or weak religious thought. He had
to be fearless both regarding who he impacted by the message and fearless
about his own personal end. When John
yelled, "repent," that
message penetrated the heart and mind of its hearers and sent the need to deal with
sin in a new direction.
That new direction would find its mark like an
arrow in the tree of the cross, where the Savior's blood was shed for the sins of
the world once and for all. When Herod
and his wife were passing by as John was preaching to the crowd and heard the
piercing voice of John directed at them to repent from their adultery, the
immediate shame and conviction of their sin made them scurry away from
him. A forerunner's message, then, is not influenced by the praise or
criticism of the church or the government.
God established three institutions: family,
government and the church. Jesus' scope
of ministry was intentionally directed away from the Roman government and
toward Israel because they were His chosen people. They would eventually reject Him and have Him crucified, thus
fulfilling Scriptures. Had Jesus'
ministry been directed to the Roman government as well, that would have pleased
satan; the religious leaders could then have had Him killed for crimes against
the government.
Jesus died pure and without sin against
anyone. But no such restriction was
placed on John the Baptist. John had
one message sent like three arrows in different directions. One direction was the family, to return the
fathers to their children, another went to the hypocritical religious leaders,
and lastly to the government, which was represented by Herod. A
Forerunner, then, sends his message in three directions without fear.
"The
Lamb of God must increase, I must decrease" was imprinted on the walls of John's heart and
mind. A true image of Christ can be
found in these two verses:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life
(John 3:16).
The image the world has of the Church is awful, and they transfer that image to Christ. To many we are charlatans and a laughing stock, due to the fact that the message of the gospel is distorted to meet the ever-increasing needs of the messengers vision and the itching ears of his hearers. Some preachers in the modern church have abused the doctrine on faith and prosperity so they would be the beneficiaries of the congregation’s newly encouraged faith as the plate was passed. Many are lured by a promise of prosperity, total healing all the time or faith for anything you want. It doesn't take long before disillusionment takes over for those who came into the Kingdom of God without true repentance.
Let us review a portion of Scripture that will
reveal the lasting effects of John's calling as a forerunner, even after his
death.
Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the
place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed and many people came to him.
They said, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John
said about this man was true." And
in that place many believed in Jesus (John 10:40-42)
Unlike the apostles, John never performed one
sign or miracle. He was totally focused
on preparing the way of the Lord.
Nothing was to distract him or those who heard him from the powerful
message that Jesus was coming. John's
message about Jesus was so penetrating that when Jesus returned to the area in
which John spent time, the people recognized Jesus and many became
believers. John's message about Jesus
was not an annual event or even occasional, but constant and consistent. A forerunner, then, must reestablish the
true image of Christ with a consistent message of repentance and preparation as
people's greatest need. The following is Zachariah's prophesy of
Jesus and of his son, John:
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed
his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His
servant David (as He said through his
holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all
who hate us--to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our
enemies, and to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and
righteousness before him all our days.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to
prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in
darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of
peace.” And the child grew and became
strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to
Israel (Luke 1: 67-80 emphasis
added)
John displayed discipline, endurance and a strong character, all of which contributed to his successful ministry. Have we been compromised too often by the easy lifestyle of American Christians, to acquire the needed discipline, endurance and strong character that a wilderness experience produced for John? Although it may take some time to acquire these disciplines, all that is needed is a willing heart and the change takes place daily by the circumstances He allows to come our way.
If you are a pastor in a traditional church
setting and feel the Holy Spirit leading you to be a forerunner, you are in a
most enviable but vulnerable position.
Unlike Jesus and John aggressively challenging the religious leaders of
that day, I believe this will be a somewhat quieter revolution. Many Christians have been primed by their
pastors through the years to be all they can be in Christ. Many will move ahead but not all at the same
speed. The home church is the setting
into which they can be released to perform.
Performance is what prepares the
Bride. The early church performed; they walked the walk as servant soldiers
with a mission.
I am going to suggest that there are three
categories that we Christians fall into in our service to the Lord. They are good, better and best. Good is to belong to the traditional
church. Better is to belong to the cell
church. And best is to belong to the
pure house church. A brief explanation
of these is as follows:
(1) Good.
In the traditional church,
the Old Covenant has been mixed with the New Covenant to the greater
extent. You have the building, the
pulpit and the paid professionals that do all our work just like in the Old
Covenant.
(2) Better.
In the cell church, the
Old Covenant has been mixed with the New Covenant to a lesser extent. You have the building, the pulpit, the paid
professionals, but the people benefit from being divided into small groups
which gives them community.
(3) Best. In the house church,
the Old Covenant is not mixed with the New Covenant. There is no building, there is no pulpit and there are no paid
professionals; this is the Lord’s designed church. The result is the body of believers receives from the Holy Spirit
directly and encourages one another as Jesus did while sitting with His
disciples.
If a believer wants to follow and know the Lord
to the maximum, he will not be content until he is serving the Lord in His
designed church. Once he tastes of the
pure house church he will never want to be a spectator Christian again. On a personal note, I have journeyed through
each one of these categories. I have
spent 40 restless years and I am finally at rest in the house church.
You may be a pastor who wants to change direction
to a house church theology without the buildings and annual salary. I will share with you about a pastor who did
so. Steve has also done some great
scholarship in outlining scripture that contributes to understanding the early
church theology. The following is an
excerpt from his resignation letter to his church, titled, A Pastor’s Plea for Biblical Fidelity, by Steve Atkerson.
It’s been a real privilege to serve God at our church these past seven years. I thank the Lord for all the good that comes through the saints here; many, many needs are met by the congregation.
Between 1983 and 1990 my beliefs
concerning the church (ecclesiology) have changed radically. Those who hold to the traditional view of
the church do so sincerely and based on their study of Scripture. My current belief is an alternative to the
traditional way of doing things and is also based on Scripture. This is not to suggest that traditional
churches are antibiblical; it is simply to offer what may be a more biblical
approach. The reader will have to
decide for himself which system best fulfills the warrants of Scripture.
While I realize that my convictions
are subject to error, still I must alter my present ministry or be guilty of
hypocrisy. My intent is not to condemn
those who differ; it is simply to explain why I am pursuing my present
course. Following are five areas of
concern, the most critical being the fifth.
First, from such verses as 1 Cor
4:16-17; 11:1-2, 16; 14:33b; Phil. 3:17; 4:9 and 2 Thes 2:15, it is obvious
that apostolic tradition was consistent in all churches everywhere and was
followed. Based on the above
references, I believe that the apostolic tradition of the New Testament ought
also to be normative in today’s churches.
Whereas it is always wrong to break an apostolic command, it is not
necessarily wrong to break apostolic tradition. However, to break apostolic tradition is to settle for second
best. The question is not; “do we have
to do things the way they did?” Rather,
the question is, “why would we want to do things any other way?” We meet for church on the first day of the
week, the Lord’s day, not because it is commanded but because it was the New
Testament pattern. We lay hands on
pastors and deacons when ordaining them not because it is commanded, but
because it was the New Testament pattern.
I believe we should be consistent in our practice of following apostolic
tradition.
The above point leads to this second
point. From Acts 14:23, 15-5, 4, 6,
22-23; 20:17; Phil 1:1; 1 Thess
5:12-13; 1 Tim 4-14; Tit 1:5; Heb 13:7, 17, 24; Jas 5:14 and 1 Pet 5:1-2 it is
evident that the New Testament pattern is for each church to be governed by a
plurality of elders. Where is the New
Testament evidence for congregational rule, rule by a board of deacons, or rule
by only one man (whether he be designated bishop, pope, or “the” pastor)?
Third, 1 Cor 9 makes it clear that
those who proclaim the gospel should “get their living from the gospel.” The
text calls such people “apostles” (or as we would say today,
missionaries). However, in 9:15-18 Paul
waved his right to such support (see also 1 Thess 2:9; 2 Thess 3:6-9). When speaking to the elders at Ephesus (Acts
20:17), Paul offered his voluntary secular employment as an example for the
elders to follow. Pastors are to
self-supporting and in a financial position of giving rather than receiving
(20:33-35)). 1 Tim 5:17-18 indicates
that a pastor can receive “honor” given in appreciation for his ministry, but
balancing 1 Tim 5 with Acts 20 would at least suggest that pastors be
bi-vocational.
In any event, I see little Scriptural
justification for the current practice wherein a church “calls a pastor” from
afar to come in and (for a set salary) serve as spiritual leader. Thus (unless the Lord directs me into missions)
I plan to return to secular employment and develop a ministry of starting
churches that are consistent with the New Testament pattern.
Fourth, though there are clearly
recognized leaders in the New Testament Church (Heb 13:7, 17) there is no
artificial “clergy/laity” distinction.
What makes a pastor more “reverend” than the least part of Christ’s
body? All believers are to function as
priests (1 Pet 2:5, 9) and the pastor-teacher’s job is to equip the saints so
that the saints can do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-16). NT church leaders were “player-coaches,” not
“star-players.” The word “minister” has
been professionalized and made to refer to pastors, but Eph 4:12 indicates that
it is the saints who are the real ministers.
The Holy Spirit sovereignly gives to each
one a special gift(s) “for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7), all members are
important in the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:4-31; Rom 12:3-8). “Every joint” (Eph 4:16 plays a part. Notice the mutuality (“one another”) of 1
Thess 4:18; 5:11-14; Rom 15:14 and Heb 3:12-13; all believers are to be
involved in comforting, encouraging, building up, and admonishing.
In short, strengthening the body of
Christ should be done by one another (all believers), not just by the
leadership. Overdependence on the
“clergy” leads to a weak and enfeebled church with the talents of the multitude
left undeveloped. The size of a church
is no indication of strength (blubber is not muscle); all saints are to
function as priests and ministers!
Fifth, 1 Cor 11—14 presents a detailed
description of a NT church meeting.
From this it is obvious that everyone had the opportunity to verbally
participate in the meeting. For
instance, 14:26 reveals that “each one” could contribute a psalm, a teaching, a
revelation, a tongue, and interpretation; 14:26 states that anyone could speak
in a tongue, but limited it to “two or at the most three”’ 14:29 allows for
“two or three” prophets to speak; 14:31 says that “you can all prophesy one by
one. To be sure, their meetings were
“done properly and in an orderly manner” (14:40), but this clearly included the
opportunity for mutual participation.
This is also seen in Heb. 10:24-25, where stimulating “one another” was
to go on when they assembled together.
This is a far cry from church meetings today where one man does almost
all the talking. There is no instance
in the NT of only one man doing all the talking in a church meeting. Even in Acts 20:7 “talking” is from dialegomai,
which is the basis for the English word “dialogue. Do a NT word search on “preach” or Preaching” and you will
discover that even it is almost exclusively linked with evangelism (proclaiming
the gospel to the lost), not church meetings!
Church today has become a place to go
to watch professionals perform. Why is
it that only one man is allowed to exercise his spiritual gift while all other
saints atrophy? Where in our church
meeting is there a place for the sharing of concerns, the development of deep
interpersonal relationships, questioning a teaching, the expression of love for
one another, stimulating one another to good deeds, mutual encouragement or
church discipline? Teaching is an
important part of a church meeting, but that must not be all there is!
Such verses as Acts 2:42; 20p: 7; 1
Cor 77:17-21 and Jude 12 indicate that the focal point of NT church meetings
was the Lord’s Supper, celebrated every week, not in a token ritual but during
(as a part of) the love feast. There
was one loaf and one cup to symbolize their unity and community (1 Cor
10:16-17).
Finally, based on Rom 16:5; 1 Cor
16:19; Col 4:15 and Philemon 2, NT churches met for church in people’s
homes. This was not due primarily to
persecution; Paul knew just where to go when he went “from house to house:
arresting Christians (Acts 8:3) and unbelievers knew just where to go to hear
about Jesus (1 Cor 14:23-25). When
persecuted, the church ceased meeting in homes and met in such places as the
catacombs. When not persecuted, homes
served the Church nicely because the church is to be like a family, not a
business. It is to be informal,
interactive and simple. The stated
objectives of a church meeting occur better in a small setting than a large
one. There was only one church in every
city but that one church met in a multitude of house churches; theirs was a
strategy of growth through division.
One must wonder at the wisdom of spending large sums of money on a
building that is used only a few hours per week and that by its very size and
design defeats the purpose of even having a church meeting (Heb 10:24-25; 1 Cor
14:26). The church is to be more of a
guerrilla force in the world than a fortress.
In
Summary, I believe that:
1) Apostolic tradition should be normative today.
2) Church rule should be by a plurality of elders.
3) Elders should usually be bi-vocational.
4) All believers are to function as priests and
ministers.
5) Church meetings are to be informal, interactive
and designed to strengthen the body of Christ via mutual ministries.
I can’t help but think that today’s church meetings fall far short of God’s design. Over the years various minor adjustments have been implemented to correct the problem: Sunday School, Training Union, Fellowship Groups etc.
My challenge to today’s church is that it be the pillar and ground of the truth, not the defender of ritual and man-made tradition. The sixteenth century Protestant Reformation was good in so far as it went; let’s complete it! (Steve Atkerson is the former associate pastor of Brookhaven Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.)
If you are a pastor, you may be one of many who
are going through a time of bewilderment.
As capable and successful as you have been in the past, things may not
be going well. You may have a vision
for your church, and that is not working.
As hard as you try, and as much as you pray, membership is flat or even
declining, finances are down and you have been soul searching and now are ready
for some answers.
The old things that used to work don't seem to
work any more. The presence of the Lord
that was there a year ago is in decline.
In contrast you may be a pastor who is on top of the world. Everything is going right but you know
something is missing and you are looking for it. Why wait until the Lord has to disturb your water? I
believe the Lord is saying to His Shepherds:
I AM is in your distress, I have disturbed
the waters, so that you will look up and listen to Me. I am calling my true Shepherds to follow my
vision, My design for My Church. Turn
away from your visions, abandon your traditions and follow me for I am coming
soon. Trust Me, lean on Me, have faith
in Me and I will show you the way you must go.
If you feel an honest visit of the Holy Spirit tugging at your heart right now, move ahead, act on it, yield to it. Submit to His presence in prayer. If you don't feel the tug right now, wait for it, prepare for it.
I must bring this note of caution to the pastors
who will resist moving into new ground by sharing with you an incident in Mark
where Jesus faced the religious leaders with a simple, new challenge. The new challenge to them was their approval
to heal the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. What was the strength of their tradition?
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them with vexation and anger, grieved at the hardening of their hearts, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus (Mark 3:1-6).
Jesus demanded a response from them and they
chose to remain silent, which was in itself a condemning choice. We cannot stay neutral. We will not be able to sit comfortably on
the fence during this move of the Spirit, which is now worldwide! Will Jesus look at us in anger and be deeply
distressed at our stubborn hearts? I encourage you, please don't let the
spirit of religion control your destiny as it did the Pharisees. Like an autopilot controls an airplane in
flight, so does the spirit of religion control many religious leaders. It is time to put our hands on the wheel and
take control of our lives with God as our pilot.
Remember the words I spoke to you: No servant is
greater than his master. If they
persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my
name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would be guilty of
sin. Now, however, they have no excuse
for their sin (John 15:20-22).
Now you have a lot of soul searching to do. By reading this book you can never say to
the Lord, "No one ever challenged
me to honestly prepare the way of the Lord for His Second Coming." If you need any help with a transition to
the home church, please write and I will do my best to help you. All that read this book are in our prayers. Let
us prepare the Bride for the Lamb.
There is an outstanding example only given in the
gospel of Mark that epitomizes the Lord's pleasure with his servants.
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins “ He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (Mark 2:1-12).
When Jesus saw their faith, He took action. There wasn't anything in it for them but hard work. Carry the paralytic through town, tear the roof apart and put it back together again. Most Christians would not have proceeded beyond the fact that they couldn't get through the door. That may have been a sign to many: the door is closed, maybe he can be healed some other time. These four men pressed the issue and would not take no for an answer. Perhaps the Lord knew their hearts and in the Spirit gave them the idea to uncover the roof and lower the paralyzed man down right in front of Jesus. What a bizarre idea. While the others in the room came to hear the words of Jesus, these four men came to have Him touch their lives. At least five men left that house never to be the same again. I can see them becoming elders of a house church and perhaps rewarded with the gift of a pastor's heart to the church.
I believe the time is coming, and
very soon, when the Lord will be able to trust the new forerunners with the
ability and power to perform like the early church did. The modern church has terribly abused the
gifts and mercies He has given to it.
Unfortunately, in modern times many have found ways to market and
commercialize the gift rather than use it locally for a witness to the lost and
desperate souls around us. Get ready;
it’s coming. When we give the Holy
Spirit His proper place of leadership in our home churches we will start to
hear His voice with remarkable clarity as He says to us, "Go ahead; pray for that person; I will heal them." Then perhaps our communities will say, like
those of Capernaum, "We have never seen anything like this!"
You may be a faithful, loyal
Christian who has built up respect and a good example through the years in your
local church. You and your family have
become real pillars and the love of Christ is foremost in your hearts. Then the Lord calls you to start a home
church and you go through the normal channels of approval from the church
leadership. Don't be surprised if you
don't get approval and must go it on your own!
The process can be lengthy and painful.
Nobody likes the pain from the rejection and misunderstanding which
often takes place. You will question
your motives and everything you believe.
It is the perfect time for Satan to attack and discourage you from going
forward and accepting the call on your life.
Be patient, be quiet and be ready.
The Lord may be using you to bring a whole church to His call. Your love for His church may be what they
need to see. The examples in the Word
of God and the quiet prodding and peace from the Holy Spirit will be your
lifeline. When the Holy Spirit tells
you to start a house church, begin, and don't look back.
The modern church and its clergy/ laity structure
commonly produces a spirit of religion.
Fear is the fuel that drives this engine. Church leaders may find themselves in the uncomfortable position
of moving against the call of the Holy Spirit on a forerunner's life simply
because they don't understand it or haven't experienced it yet. This is the same spirit that was in the
religious leaders that worked against Christ. This same thread weaves its way
through the centuries to our time. The
Lord had the writers of the New Testament warn us of the suffering that may
occur as we share and live the gospel.
The
persecution and suffering can be extreme.
It is common knowledge that house church servants are being put to death
in China today. Yet this is the fastest
growing underground house church movement in the world, numbering up to one
hundred million! Twenty thousand a day
are turning to the Lord. The house
church structure and persecution are the engine and fuel driving this world’s
greatest harvest.
When he opened the fifth
seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of
the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How
long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth
and avenge our blood?" Then each
of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants
and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed
(Revelation 6:9-11 emphasis added).
As this book is read around the world, it will
touch the lives of believers who are at little risk and those who are at great
risk of their lives. Success will be
measured only in obedience, and the martyred obviously will be rewarded with
honor and be given special treatment in heaven. The Lord's encouragement comes to us in a well-defined command,